The description from the cover of Beauty Queens gives a vague idea of what it is about, and yet it misses so many important things. I put off reading this book until I had read almost all of the other books in the category, thinking that it would be a palate-cleanser between “serious” autobiographies, and nothing more. Instead, it turned out to be a fascinating, in-depth satire of the beauty industry, the mass media, and so many other things.

This book was really good as a slightly-more-than-basic primer to Islam for non-Muslims.

What I really enjoyed was the breadth of topics that the author covered, and the no-nonsense, frank and honest way with which she talked about them. I was really taken in by the voice she used throughout the book, which was very similar to the way you’d talk to a neighbour or a friend.